CD Drive ' The device is not ready'

[23John]

Get 'device not ready' when loading CD
The following has been noted or tried.
1.Recognised in device manager and reported working
2.Tried a number of disks.
3.Checked cable connections
4.Cleaned lens.
5.Tried upgrading firmware from 6SG1 to 6SG5
6.Disc is seen to spin
7.Checked jumpers
8 Light flashes as if trying to read disc.
The drive is a tx Uranus 52 24 52 CDRW internal drive

It seemed to go wrong when loading multiple disks onto the hard drive
Any help please?

 

[etarhan]

A very simple lens misalignment may be the cause of your problem. Unfortunately, the solution is not that simple.

I would try lubricating the slides on which the head is moving. This includes the screw-like shaft, if the drive type is such. After cleaning the rails with alcohol, use silicon grease or simple household hand cream (even liquid vaseline will do).

If this doesn't help, try to check the CD drive in another machine. If the problem persists, you need a replacement drive.

 

[23John]

etarhan, thanks for taking time out to offer a solution.
I have oiled the slides previously, with sewing machine oil.
The carriage with the lens head does not run smoothly on the runners and appears to stick at some point. Obviously this is not helping matters, but it would be difficult to make any adjustment, I feel.
I have another CD drive running off the same IDE cable and that works O.K. I have tried both drives in different positions and that does not cure the problem.
It just seems that something has got stuck in the memory, but I guess that is not possible, having changed the firmware!
It's a fairly new drive, not that that is really a consideration.
Any further sugestions would be greatly appreciated.